What's a God to a Non-Believer?
by valkyriefyre79
Summary: What if a group of Shinigami were sucked into portals created by an unusual Hollow? What if the world they were dropped in was home to the Avengers? I think it's safe to say, chaos is guaranteed.
1. Yet Another Unwelcome Adventure

Ichigo Kurosaki sighed.

All in all, he wasn't having a very good day. First there was the rowdier then usual wake-up call from the old man, then a particularly stressful shopping trip for Yuzu (not going into details), and last but not least old Hat'n'Clogs had dragged him to the shouten so that he could join a hunting party going after a Hollow that had been evading Soul Society for some time, with unknown abilities at that. And he didn't even know two of the members all that well. Sure, he had fought beside lieutenants Izuru Kira and Shuhei Hisagi plenty, but they never really talked or hung out.

The only bright spot was the last two members of the party; Uryu Ishida and Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya. But given the fact that one was humorless and the other a walking archive, it wasn't much of a positive.

So here he was, standing in the middle of a forest clearing while the rest of the group swept the area for the Hollow's reiatsu, wishing that it had been Rukia and Renji who were sent instead, just for old time's sake. Since he was and probably always would be bad at sensing these kinds of things, until they actually found the Hollow, he was useless.

Of course, staying in one spot was probably better for him. Ever since the three Shinigami had found out that Uryu was joining them, the tension in the air had been so thick, Ichigo was sure he could cut it with Zangetsu. The war with the Quincy still hung fresh in everyone's mind. Even if he had been something of a double agent, it would still be awhile before the rest of the Gotei 13 completely trusted Uryu.

Ichigo sighed again, watching the sun slowly set as time passed by, occasionally catching glimpses of someone either using shunpo or hirenkyaku as they circled the area they were sure the Hollow was currently hiding in.

He was starting to consider taking a nap when a telltale roar reached his ears, coming somewhere from the west. Above the forest, three figures in different directions could clearly be seen hovering above the trees before disappearing again, heading in the direction of the sound.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to catch up with the others. He wouldn't go so far as to say he could outrun Yoruichi, but he was one of the fastest in the Seiretei. If he wanted, he could leave them all in the dust.

The Hollow roared again, and a flash of something white appeared above another clearing. It wasn't long after that Ichigo felt the temperature drop dramatically, quickly followed by storm clouds and falling snow.

Uryu caught up to him, running by his side as they sped towards the clearing. "Looks like Captain Hitsugaya found it first."

Another flash of white and the air became even colder, if that was possible. Ichigo looked back at Uryu and smirked. "You think?"

The pair stopped above the outer trees of the clearing, observing the icy chaos below. Ice coated everything and fragments of it littered the ground, remnants of Toshiro's attacks. In the center of it all was a particularly ugly Hollow. Nothing about it was even remotely symmetrical, even the mask. Patches of fur, scales, and skin dotted the areas between it's mismatched exoskeleton, and it couldn't seem to decide on a color.

It wasn't long before they were joined by Izuru and Shuhei, who looked at the Hollow like it was the most revolting thing they'd ever seen.

" _That_ is what's been killing Shinigami? I would have thought it would look a little scarier." Shuhei muttered, obviously having a hard time believing this thing was capable of doing anything besides looking ugly.

"Are you all going to stand there gaping, or are you going to actually help me with this?" Toshiro yelled from higher up, holding his released zanpakuto, hilt in one hand, coiled chain in the other.

Shuhei chuckled. "I don't know, Captain, it looks like you've got things handled from here."

Toshiro rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "useless lieutenants", before diving back towards the Hollow in an attempt to split it's mask.

After watching the captain attempt to kill the Hollow four times and it became clear there was more to this Hollow then it seemed, the two lieutenants joined in, closely followed by Ichigo. Uryu, seeing the four taking on the single opponent, decided the battlefield was crowded enough and opted to watch from the sidelines.

It was because of this decision that he was the one to pick up on the hint that something was wrong.

 _What kind of reishi is this?,_ he thought, scanning through the memories he had obtained from Yhwach when he was killed, trying to place the unfamiliar "scent". _It almost resembles a Senkaimon._

At that thought, his eyes widened as he realized exactly where the source was and what it would do. He opened his mouth, about to warn the others, when a black hole appeared in the air right where Ichigo was, pulling him in before he could even shout.

"Kurosaki!" Toshiro yelled, distracted and failing to notice the hole opening beneath him and Kira. A split-second later, they, too, were nowhere to be found.

"Hey! What was that?" Uryu looked to his right to see Shuhei had shunpoed beside him, eyes wide in shock.

"I'm still not entirely sure," Uryu answered, pushing his glasses up and pointing. "But I think he has something to do with it." Strangely, the asymmetrical mask of the Hollow seemed to grin at them through the extrusions covering it.

That was the last thing they saw before they were pulled into their own hole in reality.

* * *

Steve Rogers was a happy man.

And why wouldn't he be? He was finally starting to become accustomed to the time he had woken up in, the Chitauri were gone, New York was still in one piece, the Tesseract was soon to be gone forever, and he had just signed a contract with SHEILD, meaning he would be working for them in the near future. Everything was going great.

Until he got the call.

Now he was standing on the bridge of the helicarrier with the Avengers minus Banner or Hulk, wondering about the crater on the helicarrier's deck he had caught a glimpse of before landing, waiting for Fury to finish startup procedures to get them into the air.

And trying to drown out Tony.

"C'mon, guys, _somebody's_ gotta know what's going on! Anyone, please?" He had been going on like that ever since he landed. As a genius who usually knew everything, it was hard for him to accept that there were things he didn't know.

Steve sighed. They had finished the battle of New York two days ago now, and it felt like things were going back to normal. Thor was assisting in some of the reconstruction until he was cleared to take Loki with him back to Asgard. Tony and Pepper had been busy trying to stabilize their company. Bruce was somewhere in South America, and who knows what Clint and Natasha have been up to.

So what had happened? What was so urgent that all of the Avengers except Banner had been called in?

Just when Tony and Thor started to launch into an argument, Fury stepped down from his platform and cut them off.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but I would have thought you would like to know what's going on."

The pair immediately forgot about their disagreement and fixed their eyes on the director, clearly dying to know.

Fury's mouth almost twitched into a smile before he quelled the impulse and proceeded with his briefing. "About three hours ago, our spectrometers picked up on energy reminiscent of the Tesseract, only instead of in one place, it was spaced out in three different areas."

"Impossible! There is only one Tesseract and it is directly below us!" Thor said, looking indignant.

"Yes, I am aware of that." Fury said dryly. "But like I said, the signature was similar, not the same. Anyways, when agents were sent to investigate the locations, they found something strange."

Tony sat back with a groan and covered his face with his hands. "Don't tell me."

But Fury kept going. "In the craters left behind at the three sights, we found people. Five people, to be exact."

Tony didn't move, but his voice was notably louder. "I said don't tell me!"

Thor was looking thoughtful for once. "Can you describe the people?"

"I can do better than that." Fury said with a sly grin. "They arrived unconscious. We have them in custody as we speak."

With that, he transferred command to Hill and led the team off the bridge and towards the actual brig, not the Hulk containment unit, which was new for them.

Entering the large hall, Fury headed straight for a line of five locked cells, each of them occupied. Looking at Thor, he gestured towards the figures. "Recognize anyone this time?"

Looking inside the first one, Steve had to try hard not to gasp. The person was a boy, possibly in his pre-teens, wearing strange black robes and a white overcoat. If it hadn't been for the odd spiky white hair, he would have accused Fury of imprisoning children.

The next occupant was closer to normal, with blond hair that hung over his left eye. He wore the same thing as the boy, minus the white coat.

The individual next to him was another boy, this one possibly in his late teens, wearing a white military-looking uniform of some sort, with glasses and black hair that hung over the right side of his face and tucked behind his left ear.

After him was another man, with spiky hair that almost looked indigo that was combed over to the right side of his face, partially covering the three scars that ran from his forehead, across his eye, and down to the bottom of his face, looking to be made by claws of some sort. He also sported a blue line tattooed over his left cheek and the bridge of his nose, below which was a 69. He had the same black robes as the first two, only without sleeves, and a choker on his neck with two armbands of the same style on each arm.

The last one was another teen, with spiky, bright orange hair and the same black uniform with x-shaped white shoulder plates and a white cloak with black markings tied around his waist. X-shaped, band-like tattoos were visible on his forearms and chest.

Drawing his attention away from the knocked-out prisoners, he watched as Thor observed them and shook his head. "Their attire is not of any of the nine realms. I have not seen them before."

Fury sighed and gestured for them to follow him again. They left the brig and entered a forensics room. Placed in the center was a table. On that table lay three Japanese katanas, two overgrown trench and Khyber knives, and a belt with several metal rods placed beside it and several tube-like containers.

"These were found on each of the subjects. The katanas may look ordinary, but their metal is nothing we've ever seen before." Fury said, looking annoyed.

Clint chose this moment to speak. "Soo, they're aliens?"

Tony looked curious, brain obviously working to solve the mystery. "Have you run DNA tests?"

Fury nodded. "Completely human, believe it or not."

Natasha looked perplexed. "So where did they come from, then?"

At that moment, the sound of an explosion came from the direction of the brig, soon followed by an alarm and someone over the intercom stating that they had a prisoner loose.

Steve looked back at his team, specifically Natasha. "How 'bout we go ask them?"


	2. Impossible Things

**Wow! I've never had so many people like one of my stories before! You guys are awesome!**

 **Just a heads up. I've noticed that when I start new stories, I have a habit of posting the first five chapters in the first few days and then slowing down, so to put it simply, updating will be erratic.**

 **In response to a question about Uryu; No, he isn't a Shinigami, but he is a part of the story. Sorry that I didn't include him in the summary, if that's what you're wondering about.**

 **Another heads up. I'm not a big author's note person, so unless something drastic in my life happens that effects the story or I have questions to answer, don't expect long notes.**

 **Okay, time to move on. Enjoy the story!**

* * *

The first thing they saw when they reentered the brig was ice. Ice on the walls, ice on the ceiling, and even more ice on the floor. If it weren't for the gaping hole where one of the cells had once been, watching the security guards attempt to slip and slide their way across the hall would have been funny.

Fury somehow walked over the ice with no problem and proceeded to interrogate a guard, who didn't seem to know much more than they did.

Steve manages to make his way over to the other cells without much problem. Looking inside, he could see three of the strangers still sleeping. The cell that had been blown open used to contain the white-haired boy, and the explosion had ripped open the cell beside it, the occupant of which was also missing.

Steve was still examining the damage when Clint yelled, "Look out!", and an _ice dragon_ , of all things, came roaring down the hall before looping around and circling a figure standing in the entrance to the forensics lab. The figure raised it's katana, and the dragon was drawn into the blade, leaving nothing but a heavy chill in it's wake. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the white-haired boy, awake and looking rather angry, standing there with one of the katanas, the one with the light blue handle and star-shaped guard. Behind him stood the blond man, who didn't look particularly angry, just unhappy, obviously not wanting to be there. He had picked up the sword with the green handle.

Fury had his gun out and pointing at the strangers. "Stop right there!"

The kid looked disdainful. "We will do no such thing."

Steve was slightly taken aback. This kid was talking like an adult, an educated adult at that, and didn't seem at all concerned with the gun pointed his way. It wasn't long before Fury was joined by Romanoff and Clint in aiming at the pair.

"You are standing in a SHIELD facility without authorization. Stand down!"

The kid sighed. "And if we don't?"

Fury looked annoyed. "That's not an option."

At some point, Tony had summoned his armor and Thor was holding Mjolnir. The kid still looked unconcerned, though the man next to him was looking increasingly depressed.

As the tension built, the blond leaned closer to the kid. "Uh, Captain, are you sure we should still be here?" He whispered, though it was so quiet in the hall, everyone could hear.

The kid shot the man an annoyed glance, before looking like he had reached a decision and held his katana in front of him, poised to move. The Avengers tensed, ready to deflect any more dragons or icy powers they hadn't seen yet.

Tony broke the tension by rocketing forward, but didn't get the chance to reach his target before another explosion went off from a separate cell, not one of the strangers. Steve brought his shield up to cover his and Natasha's heads as debris flew through the area.

When the dust cleared, he saw the man with the 69 tattoo standing in front of the other two, arms out and holding up a barrier of pure energy. The teen with glasses was standing beside them, and the orange-haired boy was staggering out of his cell, hand on his forehead, looking dazed. The tattooed man lowered his barrier and turned and said something to the white-haired boy, their conversation lost in the sounds of clattering debris and yelling men.

Dragging his eyes from the strangers, Steve's eyes widened as he took notice of exactly which cell had exploded.

Loki Odinson was free once more.

* * *

Ichigo could swear that someone had it out for him.

He could take a bad day every once in a while, but waking up in a high-tech prison area, like something out of a movie, to find people with guns and explosions was taking it a bit too far.

As he stumbled out of his cell, he could hear Hollow Zangetsu cackling in the background, obviously amused by everything going on.

Ichigo gritted his teeth and inwardly yelled _Shut up!_ at the blade spirit, only to receive the mental image of his bleached self sticking his tongue out in a very childish way.

He managed to make it to the rest of his group without much trouble, though the ice and sharp objects scattered around the area didn't help. He reached them in time to hear Shuhei ask Toshiro if these people could see them. Ichigo scoffed at this, until Toshiro replied.

"Yes, they can."

He spluttered in shock, before looking back at their captors and realizing that a good deal of them were watching them. Izuru looked like he really wanted to find a hole and hide there, while Shuhei, Uryu, and Toshiro looked unhappy but seemed to accept it.

 _Well, that's just great,_ Ichigo thought, crossing his arms and scowling. _We have no idea where we are, we're surrounded by hostiles, and they can see us. Now what?_

Toshiro aimed a thumb back into the room they were standing in front of. "They've got our weapons in there. You might want to grab them."

Shuhei nodded and he and Ichigo shunpoed into the room, quickly followed by Uryu. Ichigo proceeded to strap his longer sword to his back and strap the shorter one to his right hip. Shuhei sheathed his and slipped it through his sash on his left hip, and Uryu meticulously replaced his equipment on his belt before putting it back on. When they returned to Izuru and Toshiro, it was to find themselves in a standoff.

A dark skinned man with an eyepatch was trying to tell Toshiro to stand down and Toshiro, predictably, was flat out refusing in the calmest way possible, which was infuriating some of the footsoldiers, given the looks on their faces.

"Put your weapons down!"

"No, I don't think so."

"You are in custody! Lower your weapons!"

"Are you having trouble hearing? We will do no such thing."

What made it even more comical was the fact that the guy was arguing with the Shinigami who was barely half his height.

Casting his eyes over the rest of the other side, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Was that a walking robot? And why was that other guy wearing such a ridiculous costume? Granted, given some of the people he knew and opponents he had faced, it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd seen, but these people were human! Not Shinigami, not Arrancars, not even Quincies. They were humans, who by definition weren't even supposed to be able to see them.

And he wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Is it just me, or is that guy wearing an American patterned outfit?" Uryu whispered, the whole getup apparently clashing with his fashion sense.

Ichigo looked again and found himself nodding. "Someone who's a little over-patriotic, or a nutcase, do you think?"

Shuhei snorted. "I don't know what you mean by the first one, but I'd have to go with nutcase."

Uryu and Ichigo exchanged a glance at the Shinigami's lack of knowledge, and then Uryu proceeded to give a brief layout of America's history, to fill up the gap. It wasn't long before Shuhei was cracking up at the stereotypes, and all the while Eyepatch still wasn't getting anywhere with the Tenth Squad Captain. Ichigo had a hard time not breaking out in hysterics then and there at the absurdity of it all.

The argument was broken up when a rather bulky man floated from above, a hammer of all things in his hand while a large red cape flowed behind him.

"Who the hell is that?" Ichigo said, eyebrows raised at the overdramatic display. Uryu was starting to look more scandalized by the second.

"In the name of Odin, you will surrender!" the man roared. Ichigo was getting even more confused, which was saying a lot. _Odin? Is that someone I should know?_

Toshiro looked at the man coldly. "I don't care who you work for. We are leaving and that is final."

"Are you so sure about that?" the speaker was a woman with striking red hair. "To be honest, I would be surprised if you even knew where you were."

Toshiro turned his attention to her. "Meaning?"

She smiled at him. "I don't suppose you've ever heard of the Tesseract? It's most unique property is that it displaces objects in space, like teleportation."

"Your point?"

Uryu picked that moment to speak up. "I believe I know where she's going with this, Captain." Toshiro looked surprised but nodded at Uryu, encouraging him to go on.

Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose and turned to the woman. "If I'm understanding you right, you're saying we were teleported by this Tesseract?"

The woman shook her head. "No. There is only one Tesseract and it is locked up where no one can use it. But we found you at impact sites that contained traces of the kind of energy the Tesseract emits, if a bit flawed."

Uryu nodded and turned back to Toshiro. "That fits with my own theory. Shortly before we all presumably lost consciousness, I remember feeling energy resembling a Senkaimon around each of us, coming from that Hollow. If I had to guess, this teleportation is this particular Hollow's ability."

Ichigo was starting to run out of patience. "Where the hell are we, then?"

Eyepatch had been watching the whole conversation with a dubious look until now. "I believe I can answer that. We are currently hovering above New York City."

The ghost of a smile touched Uryu's lips. "I thought as much." Turning to the Shinigami, he said, "I knew it was somewhere western. In case you haven't noticed, we're speaking English."

"So where are you from, then?" this voice came from above. Looking up, they saw a man with a bow and arrow standing in the rafters.

"Japan." Toshiro was the one that answered.

"And I don't suppose you know who these three are, do you?" The man gestured at the two guys in gaudy costumes and the red-and-gold robot.

"Not a clue." Toshiro said.

The man smiled and looked at Eyepatch. "Well, I don't know about you, but that cleared things up for me."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me. You're thinking about parallel universes."

The man's smile grew wider. "Bingo!"

The woman was about to retort when Eyepatch interrupted. "Have any of you seen the news about New York in the last two days?"

"Huh? Why, did something happen?" Ichigo asked, confusion evident on his features.

"Mr. Stark, what are the probability of parallel universes existing?" The man asked seemingly no one.

"No one really knows. But given the fact that we just closed a gate to the other side of space, I wouldn't rule out the possibility." Ichigo, Shuhei and Izuru all jumped when a voice came from the robot.

"I see." Looking at Toshiro, the man said, "Tell me honestly. Do you have any intention of hurting anyone here?"

Toshiro shook his head.

The man relaxed and put his gun away, before holding out his hand. "Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. Sorry about all this, but I think you can understand that we were a bit on edge. And you are?"

Toshiro regarded him for a second, before taking the offered hand. "Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Fury smiled. "I get the feeling you have no idea who we are or what we do."

Toshiro shrugged. "Nope. If these guys are right, then we probably don't have a clue about a lot of stuff."

Fury turned around and motioned the guards away. "Let's go somewhere more comfortable. There's a lot we need to talk about."


	3. Shinigami and Asgardians

**Okay, just to clear up some comments, if you don't like the story, don't read it. I can't either agree or disagree with you on power levels, but I've never read the comics, so I'm stuck with the MCU. I'm just writing this for fun. And the Bleach characters will be slightly underpowered. It's hard to write crossovers with Bleach and have the other characters be on the same level as them.**

 **Next, to everyone who would like this story to continue; I'm just making this up as I go, so how would anyone feel about adding a couple Bleach villains to the mix? I'm open to suggestions, so let me know if there's a certain antagonist you'd like to see.**

 **Apologies for spelling errors. My tablet has a terrible habit of auto-correcting words, even if they're spelled correctly. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

Clint couldn't be happier.

After all, how often did one encounter aliens and extra-dimensional beings in the same week? It was like being in a movie!

Natasha was on high alert, waiting for something to go wrong. No matter what these people said, she wouldn't trust them until they presented her with something concrete.

Tony had ditched his armor and practically reveled in the shocked looks on the faces of the carrot-top, blondie, and scar (as he referred to them). Unfortunately for Tony, all four-eyes and Toshiro did was raise an eyebrow. Killjoys.

Thor was reserved but prepared to believe the strangers. They struck him as resembling Asgardians more than humans, with the way they talked in the face of battle and the swords they carried, especially the orange-haired boy's duel blades. The fact that SHIELD didn't know what metal the swords were made of only furthered the relation.

Steve wasn't sure what to think. It was strange that the leader of the group also appeared to be the youngest, the title 'Captain' showing that he was in a place of importance. The boy with glasses seemed to be smarter than most kids his age, probably cleverer than people who's years greatly outnumbered his own. The blond man was definitely a follower and seemed to be the type who would worry about everything. The tattooed man was calm and collected, barely reacting to anything besides Tony dismissing his armor.

And then there was the orange-haired kid.

His face was set in a constant scowl, glaring at anyone who looked his way. He was definitely angry about something, and his punkish looks marked him as a possible delinquent. And the large swords on his back and hip were concerning. They seemed like something Thor's Asgardian friends would use, not a kid barely out of his teens.

Fury led them to a conference room with a long table dominating the area. He took a seat at the far end and the Avengers joined him. The strangers took the other end.

Fury was the first to speak. "I suppose introductions are in order. Like I said before, I am Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. And these are Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, Tony Stark, and Steve Rogers."

The orange-haired kid looked indignant. "What kind of names are the first three?"

Thor looked vaguely offended, while the boy with glasses elbowed his companion in the side, looking disapproving.

Fury chuckled. "We're a military organization of sorts. Hawkeye and Black Widow are two of our agents. Those are just their codenames. And as for Thor, he's an Asgardian, known in our ancient history as the God of Thunder."

The bespeckled boy looked surprised. "As in the Norse god Thor? The son of Odin, the wielder of Mjolnir?"

"Exactly." Fury said.

Hitsugaya sighed, looking very disinterested. " You already heard my name, but these are Shuhei Hisagi," the man with the 69 tattoo grunted. "Izuru Mira," the blond seemed to shrink in his seat. "Uryu Ishida," the boy with glasses smiled slightly. "And Ichigo Kurosaki." The now-named Ichigo had the distinct expression of _whatever_ on his face.

"So how exactly did you make all that ice?" Tony broke in, dying to solve the mystery.

Toshiro eyes looked like chips of ice as he turned towards the Iron Man. "What's it to you?"

Natasha beat Tony to the punch when she replied. "Tony's a genius in our world, known for inventing some our technological advancements. Egotistical as he is, he can't stand it if people have things he can't understand."

"I resent the term egotistical." Tony said with a sniff.

"Back on track." Fury said, before an argument broke out. " The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, or SHIELD, is an international organization that has most of the characteristics of an undercover agency, with the exception of monitoring paranormal and supernatural occurrences, which is how we found you." Looking at Hitsugaya, he said, "I remember you being called Captain, back in the brig. I'm assuming you have a rank of sorts where you're from. I don't suppose you mind sharing?"

Hitsugaya looked thoughtful before speaking. "Yes, I suppose you could say I'm a rather influential person in the Gotei 13, our own organization. Specifically, I am the Captain of the Tenth Division. There are only thirteen divisions, each headed by a Captain, who only answers to the Head Captain, the ultimate authority in the Gotei 13."

Thor snorted. "A mere child in such a position? Absurd."

The air suddenly grew colder, a perfect match with Toshiro's expression. "I am _not_ a child. And even if I were, rankings in the Gotei 13 are based on power, not age or years of service. If you lack power, you won't get anywhere where we're from." The temperature lifted to a much more comfortable seventy degrees.

"By power, do you mean wealth or abilities?" Steve asked, thinking that this Gotei 13 sounded like a very judgmental place.

Uryu took over here. "I imagine that things of otherworldly nature are a common sight here?"

"I... guess you could say that." Clint said, with a pointed glance at Thor.

"Let's just say that each of us has abilities that don't fit the definition of _normal_." Shuhei was the one that spoke this time.

"But to answer Roger's question," Hitsugaya said, "When I say power, I am referring to abilities."

"So the ice is your power?" Stark said, looking giddy.

Toshiro reluctantly nodded, and then looked back at Fury. "Given the explosion earlier, would I be correct in assuming one of your prisoners managed to escape?"

Fury grimaced. "Yeah. Loki."

"As in the God of Mischief?" Uryu asked, once again spot-on.

"Loki was supposed to be returned to Asgard soon, but I suppose he was smart enough to recognize an opportunity when you made your escape." Natasha said, sounding somewhat harsh. Hitsugaya just shrugged it off.

"Us specifically, except for Uryu, are Shinigami. In your language, it translates to death god." Thor opened his mouth to say something, but Toshiro cut him off. "However, it's simply a title. To say we are gods is stretching it a bit, since we live and die like any other being. I'm curious as to whether this applies to Asgardians, or if they actually fit the definition of a god."

Thor's puzzled expression cleared and he broke into a smile. "No, just like you said, we're powerful, but we live and die. While Loki is clever and skilled in illusions and mind games, he isn't invincible."

"And would be correct in thinking that Asgard is another world entirely from this one?"

"Yes. Until recently, Asgardians traveled to this world via the Bifrost, but it has been destroyed, so when I leave with my brother, we will be using the Tesseract."

"I see." Turning back to Fury, Toshiro launched into an explanation of his own. "I suppose you could compare Shinigami to Asgardians. We are involved with Earth, or the World of the Living as we refer to it, but our home is a separate world that we call Soul Society. Our version of your Bifrost would be the Senkaimon. We also have knowledge of two other worlds, and the dimension the Senkaimon goes through. To be completely honest, the idea of an alternate reality existing isn't that shocking."

"Huh." Clint said.

"Shinigami are in charge of destroying Hollows, souls that feed off of other souls. We were chasing one that had been killing Shinigami for some time when it revealed that it's special ability is, given where we are now, dimensional portals. Us coming here was just a case of not knowing what we were going up against. We had no intention of coming here and we will be leaving as soon as we figure out how to do that."

"In a hurry to leave, huh?" Fury mused. "To be honest, I'd probably be thinking the same thing in your position, and I would be happier if I didn't have to deal with dimensional travelers anyway. But it's also painfully obvious that you have nowhere to stay until you achieve that goal. I don't completely trust you yet, but your story makes sense. So if you don't mind, I could set up a temporary place for you to stay-"

"Hang on, Nick." Tony butted in. "We both know there isn't that much room on the helicarrier at the moment. And I've got a lot of extra space in Stark Tower, not to mention it's virtually empty until reconstruction is finished. And I've got better access to technological resources. If anyone's going to make an interdimensional gate, it's me. They can stay with me, and Steve and Thor will be there, too."

Steve grimaced slightly. Unfortunately, his apartment had been trashed in the invasion, so until it was rebuilt or he found another place, he was stuck boarding with Tony. Thor simply didn't have a place to stay.

Fury thought about Tony's proposition. Hard as it was to admit, he did have some good points. Eventually, he caved and turned to Toshiro. "Your thoughts?"

He shrugged. "You know better than me which is preferable."

"Well, then. I guess you'll be staying with Tony. Just a fair warning, though, he has a tendency to act more important than he is. Unless he has something useful to say, just ignore him."

Steve snorted and Clint chuckled, while Tony just yelled, "Hey!"

Hitsugaya smiled. "Oh, I don't think we need to worry about that. I've seen worse." He said, with a sideways glance at Ichigo, who at this point wasn't even paying attention anymore.

It wasn't long before they were landing on the Stark Tower helipad in a quinjet. Uryu had spent most of the ride marveling at the aircrafts design, while Ichigo kept shooting suspicious glances at Steve, the only Avenger who couldn't fly and was therefore forced to endure the ride if we wanted to get back to his room. It was through listening to Uryu's commentary that he realized the kid was even smarter than he let on, knowing exactly what all the basic mechanics were and what they did. Ichigo would break in every once in a while with a snide comment that Uryu would either retaliate to or shrug off with a look of annoyance. It was through this that Steve learned that, despite the bickering and hostile glances, these two were rather close friends. He could remember soldiers with relationships resembling theirs.

Tony landed on his own platform, armor being disassembled and stored as he walked into the main room of the penthouse. Thor landed next to the quinjet. When the ramp opened, he found Izuru already out of the quinjet looking immensely relieved and Shuhei laughing as he walked over to his counterpart, then smiling and punching him in the arm. "What's the matter? I've never seen someone leave a vehicle so fast." Kira's face turned slightly red while Shuhei bent over laughing again. Hearing a sigh, Steve looked over to see Toshiro walking past him, rolling his eyes and muttering, _"Idiots"_ under his breath.

Steve stood at the top of the ramp for a moment, somewhat stunned by how similar their relationships were to the Avengers. Toshiro could have been Natasha, Ichigo and Uryu could be Bruce undermining Tony, and Izuru could have been Steve himself, being teased by Clint, or Shuhei in this case, for some mistake he'd made with modern technology. They definitely weren't at all what he had imagined death gods to be like.

* * *

Throughout the tour of the Stark Tower penthouse, Ichigo couldn't decide what to think. He could tell that these were good people, the same way he read his opponents in battle. Their rooms weren't overly fancy, but they weren't cramped either. Since they hadn't brought anything with them besides their weapons, the rooms would probably stay bare throughout their stay.

When they got back to the main room, Ichigo found himself gazing out the window. _What Yuzu and Karin wouldn't give to see New York._ Upon thinking about his sisters, the full implications if where they were hit him, along with the possibility that if they didn't find a way back, he would never see them again.

 _ **Yo, King! Careful with the emotions! It's the Pacific Ocean in here!**_

The sound of Hollow Zangetsu's voice brought him out of his musings. _Sorry._

 ** _Sorry? Is that all you can say? YOU'VE NEVER HAD AN OCEAN APPEAR IN .5 SECONDS OUT IN THE REAL WORLD!_**

 _It isn't entirely his fault._

 ** _Yeah, it is, don't try defend-_**

Ichigo sighed. _Old Man?_

 _Yes, Ichigo. He was giving me a headache, too._

A moment later, Ichigo smirked at Hollow Zangetsu's muffled shrieking in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure what the old man did to make the Hollow so scared of him, but it was certainly useful.

A few moments later, Ichigo was joined by the man Rogers in gazing out the window.

"So you're from Japan, right?" he asked.

Ichigo nodded. "Yup. Karakura Town, specifically."

Rogers looked at him, surprised. "But I thought-"

Ichigo chuckled. "Everything Toshiro said was true, and I am a Shinigami. I'm just not a normal Shinigami. I was born and raised in the real world. A bit of a special case."

"Oh."

Ichigo looked back out over the city. The sun was starting to set, turning the skyline into shadows. _Yuzu. Karin. I promise I'll come back to you. Just wait a little longer. I'm coming._


End file.
